Strange Magic *Ambrose Spellman*

Taking A Turn For The Worse

Freya

"I said where is the High Priest?" Prudence demands again. Ambrose jumps off of my and pushes my skirt down so that I'm not as exposed. What a gentleman. I quickly sit up and fix my shirt, making sure nothing is revealed or too scandalous. It isn't until now that I realize that it's just Prudence, Dorcas, and Nick Scratch. Prudence looks pissed. Dorcas looks at me and winks. Nick looks intrigued by what he sees.

"He's doing his rounds." Ambrose says as he puts his jacket back on. No rips. Praise Satan. "Maybe you can help then. You are a Spellman after all." Nick says losing that intrigued look in his eye. 

"What's the problem?" Ambrose asks clearing his throat. "Our sister Agatha is sick." Prudence states. "Vomiting soil." Dorcas adds. "Spellman soil. From that so called Cain Pit." Prudence says crossing her arms. 

"You were there. Freya too. We did everything to the letter, and Thomas Kinkle is back and fine. So why is Agatha coughing up dirt and turnips?" Nick asks. My throat goes dry. Agatha is sick? Throwing up dirt? Fuck. Fuckity Fuck Fuck. "Not a clue." Ambrose says walking over to them.

"Who told you Tommy was fine?" I ask standing. "Sabrina." Nick says instantly, as if he knew that that was the next question. "Isn't he?" Nick asks when he sees the panic written across my face. "I believe the jury's still out on that." Ambrose tells them. 

"I don't care about the mortal! I care about my sister." Prudence yells. "We brought her back to life on your property, and now something's gone terribly wrong. So you're going to help us fix it." She says getting in Ambrose's face. Ambrose doesn't step back but refuses to raise his voice to her level.

"When it comes to matter of the Cain Pit, I'm not expert." He tells her calmly. "But we do know someone who is." I say. Ambrose looks over his shoulder at me. "No more secrets." I tell him. He nods his head. "Lead me to the phones." He tell me.

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Freya

"You all did what?" Aunt Hilda whisper yells as we guide her through the halls of the academy. Ambrose explained briefly on the phone but left me to explain the details when she arrived. I guess it was like some form of punishment? Anyway, all of the anger leaves Aunt Hilda's face when she sees Agatha laying in her bed. I almost want to cry just looking at her.

Agatha looks like shit.

"It started last night." Nick tells her. Agatha is pale and covered in her own dirt vomit. "Oh. I see." Aunt Hilda says kneeling next to her to check her vitals. I stand at the foot of the bed, looking down in horror. Ambrose comes up behind me and places a hand on my shoulder. I don't even notice, I'm too busy looking at what I helped do.

"Well... the Cain Pit is a miracle, really, but if you come back too soon, you'll make yourself ill. It's a form of decompression sickness, like when divers get the bends. Do it too fast and you're going to vomit up half the cemetery." Aunt Hilda explains with a weak smile. 

"What do we do?" Prudence asks. "Well, I reckon she has too much earth in her system. So we need to re-balance her elements. So, I suggest a tonic of fizzy water, which will give her water and air. And a dash of cayenne pepper for fire. Three times a day for a week. She'll be right as rain." Aunt Hilda tells all of us. 

"That's all?" Prudence asks, clearly not convinced. "Oh, but you'll serve it with love, won't you darling?" Aunt Hilda asks. Prudence rolls her eyes but grabs Dorcas to go off to the kitchen to gather the supplies. Aunt Hilda grabs her items and scurries out of the room and into the hallway. Ambrose basically has to carry me away from Agatha because I'm so focused on how sick she looks. 

"Not to question you, Auntie." Ambrose says as we catch up with her. "but you just prescribed Alka Seltzer to a girl who came back from the dead." He says blatantly. "There's something to be said for keeping them busy. The dirt that she's coughing up is practically gravel. Which tells me that Agatha shouldn't have been brought back in the first place." Aunt Hilda half whispers to us.

"The earth is owed a soul, it needs to collect." She tells us before running off. Ambrose goes to follow but stops when he notices that I'm still frozen in place. He comes back to me and calls my name out like it's a question.

"I did that. I did that to her." I say with tears forming in my eyes. "No darling don't you say that." He says taking me in his arms. "But it's true. I was there. I watched her die. I was apart of the plot to kill Agatha to bring Tommy back." I tell him. Tears falling freely now. 

"You can't take the blame for this." He tells me. I nod but deep in my heart, I know that this is all partly of my fault. "Let's get you home. The academy can wait another day for those translations." He says guiding me towards the door. I just continue nodding and let him lead me home.

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Freya

"Aha!" Sabrina says when we enter Ambrose's room. "Sabrina?" I ask. I wasn't crying anymore, but my voice definitely sounded like I had been. She whips around and looks at us. "It's something called a soul separation." She explains.  

"What the heavens are you talking about? Also, why are you in here?" He asks walking over to his bed. "Roz had another vision. Only this time, it was when she touched Tommy. She saw him lost and confused in the woods. She said it was foggy and that there was a baby crying. That's limbo!" She says pushing a book towards me. I take it from her and skim the page.

"We brought back Tommy's body but not his soul." She explains. "We know." Aunt Hilda says from the door. Sabrina's face freezes and I can almost feel her heartbeat speed up. She looks at the three of us and tries to come up with an excuse.

"Aunt Hilda, I can explain everything." She stammers. "Uh huh. Freya and your cousin already did that, in great detail. You lied to me. You did the one thing I told you not to do. Incorrectly to boot." Aunt Hilda tells Sabrina. The calmness in her voice makes me want to curl up and die. She's so disappointed.

"I couldn't bear to see Harvey suffer like that, and I think I can fix this entire situation. I just have to put Tommy's soul back in his body." Sabrina tries to explain. Aunt Hilda huffs at her and tries to get her to come to her senses. I take this moment to sneak over to Ambrose. I sit behind him as if I'm actually trying to hide from everything.

"It's too late!" Aunt Hilda explains, which quickly catches Sabrina's attention. "No it's not! Roz said she had a vision of Tommy. He's in limbo. It's where the souls of unbaptized babies go when they perish or the souls of people who died before their time. I just need to get there." Sabrina tells her Aunt. 

"First of all, there are two limbos. One for witches, one for mortal. Tommy Kinkle is in mortal limbo. It is simply impossible for witches to cross over into mortal limbo." Aunt Hilda explains. "But I'm not a witch. I'm a half witch." Sabrina says. I can feel Ambrose deflate in front of me. When will this girl get it? It's not possible. 

"You're assuming you can cross over? Because, meanwhile, the witch that you killed and brought back to life is getting sicker and sicker. That's the grim reaper doing it to her. He's expecting a body. Her suffering won't end until there's one in the ground." Aunt Hilda tells Sabrina before turning on her heel and walking out of the room.

"Guys?" Sabrina asks turning to us. Ambrose avoids any and all eye contact. "Freya?" She asks with a small crack in her voice. "It might not even be possible Brina. I saw Agatha today. She's dying. And it's all because of us." I tell her. She nods her head and I can see the tears forming in her eyes.

"Fine. I'll fix this one on my own."